Rabchuk endorses Comprehensive Plan in St. Charles

“ Having served as Vice Chairman for the St. Charles Comprehensive Plan Task Force for almost two years I know firsthand the effort that has been extended by the entire task force team to identify opportunities for St. Charles to continue to grow in a responsible manner,” said John Rabchuk, candidate for St. Charles mayor in the April 2013 election. “Just as with any business, a city must grow or it will slowly stagnate and lose ground to neighboring communities. A few vocal residents of our city believe that there is an unending line of developers eager to make proposals to St. Charles. This is not only wrong, but it is potentially very dangerous to the long term health of our community. Developers will, and are, taking their investment funds elsewhere as it has become increasing more costly to attempt to do business in St. Charles.”

“ That is not to say that all proposed developments should be approved, nor that every development represents a responsible plan for the future of St. Charles. To be successful, developments need to take a balanced approach that recognizes that a responsible growth plan for the city will include retail, commercial, industrial and potentially all forms of residential development within our community; as well as to account for the manner in which those developments blend into their surroundings.

“ The draft 2013 Comprehensive Plan presents a roadmap for a responsible ten year growth plan for the city of St. Charles. It is not an action plan calling for specific developments or even specific land uses, but rather it should be viewed as a vision statement for responsible growth that will serve as a reference guideline as specific proposals are made and evaluated. I would encourage all residents to read the plan documents which are available on the city’s website. It is doubtful that anyone will agree with every single aspect of the plan, but I believe that the task force has done an excellent job of considering the multitude of options and comments considered during this lengthy process.”